Kash Patel reveals the FBI spent nearly a year investigating James Comey’s Instagram photo of seashells before indicting him over it

The FBI spent nearly a year investigating a social media post that led to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday. The indictment charges Comey with making a threat against President Donald Trump, stemming from an Instagram post he made in May 2025, where he posted a photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47.” Comey later deleted the post after conservative backlash.

According to Mediaite, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau spent 11 months on the case, noting that such cases “take time.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also said the bureau’s investigators work methodically and are “career agents and prosecutors who call the balls and strikes in the field as they see fit, pursuant to the facts of the case and the law.”

Comey was charged with two counts in the Eastern District of North Carolina: making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat across state lines. This is the second time Comey has been indicted, with his first case being dismissed after a judge ruled that the prosecutor behind it had been unlawfully appointed.

The indictment rests on a seashell photo that Comey says was never meant as a threat

The Instagram post showed seashells on a beach arranged to spell out “86 47.” Comey wrote in the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Conservatives interpreted “86” as slang for “kill” or “throw out,” seeing it as a threat against Trump, who is the 47th president. The indictment alleges that a reasonable person would read the image as “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”

Comey called it “crazy” to think his post was a threat, and said in a later Instagram post that he assumed the shells were “a political message” and that he “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.” He said he opposed violence “of any kind.” Patel, who has previously made headlines for promising bombshell 2020 election evidence to Fox viewers, defended the lengthy investigation as a standard and thorough process.

In a video posted after his indictment, Comey said, “They’re back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it.” According to NBC News, he said he was not afraid and that he still believed in the independent judiciary.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Blanche did not offer direct evidence that Comey “knowingly and willfully” made a threat, which is a core part of the charges. He said there had been a “tremendous amount of investigation” and that intent would be proven through witnesses, documents, and potentially by examining the witness himself.

The indictment has also raised questions about the low probable cause standard used by prosecutors to secure a federal grand jury indictment. In this case, the grand jury also issued an arrest warrant, which is considered unusual. Trump had publicly urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to take legal action against Comey prior to the indictment, which critics have pointed to as evidence that the move was politically motivated. 

Meanwhile, the DOJ has also been active on other legal fronts, including pressuring a historic group to drop its White House lawsuit. The White House referred all questions about the Comey matter to the Justice Department. Comey’s lawyers have said they will contest the charges in court and look forward to vindicating their client and the First Amendment.